"version, and they also co-wrote the episode ""The Convict"" for the show's third season. Gervais has said that the episode ""Training"" is his favourite, where Brent plays his guitar and sings. ""Extras"" had its debut on the BBC on 21 July 2005; directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, the sitcom ran for twelve episodes and starred Gervais as Andy Millman, a background artist. Millman is more self-aware and intentionally humorous than Gervais' ""The Office"" character David Brent. Guest stars on the first series of ""Extras"" include Ross Kemp, Les Dennis, Patrick Stewart, Vinnie Jones, Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Stiller,"
"Eve. In late 2008, they recorded four more podcasts and began a series of audiobooks examining Pilkington's perspective on various subjects. In July 2005, following a brief return of the XFM radio show (filling in for Adam and Joe), Gervais and Merchant's new sitcom ""Extras"" premiered on BBC2. The series features Merchant in a supporting role as Darren Lamb, the incompetent agent to struggling actor Andy Millman, played by Gervais. Series 2 of ""Extras"" aired in late 2006, followed by a Christmas special in December 2007; all three installments aired on HBO in the United States. Merchant won a 2006"
"""Curb Your Enthusiasm"", in making ""Extras"", particularly in the format of celebrities making fools of themselves or subverting their public personas. In 2007, Gervais won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for his portrayal of Andy Millman in the second series of ""Extras"". As Gervais was not present at the awards ceremony, the trophy was accepted on his behalf by Steve Carell, the actor who starred as regional manager Michael Scott – the counterpart to Gervais' David Brent – on the American adaptation of ""The Office"". ""The Guardian""s Chris Tryhorn explained the ""few gripes"""
"""Celebrity Big Brother"" in the UK, and on July 26, 2006, in the UK series ""Love Island"" as a houseguest contracted to stay for a week. Finally, he appeared on the show ""Celebrity Mole"" on ABC. He wound up winning the $222,000 grand prize. In 2008, Rodman joined as a spokesman for a sports website OPENSports.com, the brainchild of Mike Levy, founder and former CEO of CBS Sportsline.com. Rodman also writes a blog and occasionally answers members' questions for OPEN Sports. In 2009, he appeared as a contestant on ""Celebrity Apprentice"". Throughout the season, each celebrity raised money for a"
"a more traditional sitcom style than the mockumentary style used by Gervais and Merchant in their previous series ""The Office"". Each episode has at least one guest star: a television or film celebrity, who play what Gervais and Merchant have referred to as ""twisted"" versions of themselves; an exaggerated or inverted parody of their public personas. The show has been critically acclaimed, and has a Metacritic score of 81/100. Andy Millman (Ricky Gervais) is an aspiring actor who can only find work as an extra which he often refers to as being a ""background artist"" as a means of making"
"also confirmed that the version did exist. He co-hosted the television music show, ""Solid Gold"", from 1981 to 1982 with Marilyn McCoo. Gibb was ultimately fired from both ""Dreamcoat"" and ""Solid Gold"" because of absenteeism caused by cocaine binges. Said Zev Buffman, a Broadway producer and financier for ""Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat"", ""When Andy was at the theater, he was a joy. But he wasn't there enough"", adding that of the five people to play Joseph up to that point, Gibb was the best actor. He also said after Gibb's death, ""We'd lose him over long weekends. He'd"
"all to find work for Andy, and even discouraging potential employers from hiring his client due to his flabby physique, age, and lack of acting experience. Darren is assisted by former soap opera star Shaun Williamson, who plays himself. Lamb frequently tries to undermine Andy by suggesting Williamson (who Lamb refers to by his former ""EastEnders"" character name, ""Barry"") is better suited for various acting roles that are offered to Andy. Fed up with life as an extra who is always being cut out of scenes just as he manages to get his face on camera, Andy shamelessly kisses up"
"by telling the producers he was half-Italian and half-Sardinian. He first appeared on screen in January 1998 and remained in the role until 2000. Bannerman appeared in two series of the comedy series ""Time Gentlemen Please"" alongside Julia Sawalha, Phil Daniels and Al Murray. He also appeared as his idol Elvis Presley in ""Celebrity Stars in their eyes"". He has presented ""Wish You Were Here...?"" for ITV, and has also played guest leads in ""The Grimleys"" and ""Dream Team"" on Sky One. He has made appearances in the BBC hospital drama ""Holby City"", in the ITV2 drama """", the ITV"
"received pie in his face. He later got his revenge, along with the other contenders, on Sam and Mark. He has also appeared in the ""Bo' Selecta!"" Christmas Special ""Ho Ho Ho Selecta"", and had a minor appearance on ""Look Around You"" in Episode Four where he played Andy Gough. Lee narrated the British version of MTV's strip show-cum-music video show ""Pants-Off Dance-Off"". He also appears in the 2010 music video for ""I Feel Better"" by Hot Chip, directed by Peter Serafinowicz. After taking a break from presenting shows on children's TV, Ross starred in his own hidden camera show"
"Channel 5 relaunch of Big Brother. Bateman also presented a weekly radio show on 107.8 Academy FM (2011) in Kent. He has appeared in pantomime on several occasions. In 2013, he moved to Sydney, Australia to study. Nick Bateman (television personality) Nicholas ""Nick"" Bateman (born 1967), also known as ""Nasty Nick"", is a British media personality and a former contestant on the first series of the British version of ""Big Brother"". Nick Bateman grew up in Kent. He worked in the City of London as a broker before taking part in Big Brother. Bateman first came to public prominence as"
"Trying"" at the Chichester Festival Theatre during the 2005 summer season. He is currently playing Grandpa in the Cbeebies show ""Grandpa in My Pocket"" as the Grandpa with a magic hat, which when he put on, he was able to shrink. In 2009 he played Ken Lewis, CEO of the Bank of America, in the television dramatisation ""The Last Days of Lehman Brothers"". His appearances on the London stage include ""Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell"" by Keith Waterhouse and Ben Elton's play, ""Gasping"". In 1974, he appeared in a novel production of 'Macbeth' at The Young Vic, in which the lead"
"taking over the role from Crispin Glover, who declined. For the role, Weissman wore extremely heavy makeup to have him resemble Glover, and most of his scenes were shot with him either upside down or in the background (which led to Glover suing the producers for using his likeness without his permission). He has appeared in roles in feature films including ""Pale Rider"" and """". He has also made guest appearances on television shows such as ""Saved by the Bell"", ""The Man Show"", ""Dallas"", ""Max Headroom"", ""Scarecrow and Mrs. King"", ""Chip and Pepper's Cartoon Spectacular"", and ""Divorce Court"". His commercial"
"but the second, with Badger misbehaving and getting out of control throwing food everywhere, was much funnier. It is from here that Andy got the inspiration for Badger loving mashed potato, as he realised its potential for use in slapstick comedy (adapted from the traditional custard pie routine) while still being a very original and left-of-field idea. It was this second performance that he sent off to the BBC and several ITV regional franchisees. The ITV companies all gave him written appraisals but turned him down, however he received more positive news from Christopher Pilkington, an executive producer at the"
"this incident when appearing on Annually Retentive, Rob Brydon's spoof quiz show. Brand does briefly appear in the show. Brian Conley and Jack Jones made cameo appearances as themselves. Plans for a film based on the television show, titled ""The Great Beyond"", were announced in 2010, with David Guion and Michael Handelman attached to the project to write and direct the film. Cruise of the Gods Cruise of the Gods was a one-off comedy/drama produced by Baby Cow Productions for the BBC. It starred Rob Brydon, Steve Coogan, David Walliams and James Corden. It was broadcast in 2002 and has"
"was cheaper than booking Kaufman. However, Kaufman had the last laugh, enlisting his brother Michael or his showbiz partner Bob Zmuda to play the role, with Kaufman making unannounced appearances onstage during Clifton's act. Rodney Dangerfield was a big fan of Andy Kaufman, and hired Clifton to open for him for two shows at Bill Graham's famed Fillmore West. After a disastrous first show, where Clifton took the stage with Tony Bennett's famous ""I Left My Heart in San Francisco"" and was summarily booed, he reappeared on the second night in riot gear amid a shower of rotten vegetables and"
"scene, they reference Willis by name before meeting Will Smith's character, leading to Coleman uttering a variation of his catchphrase, ""What'chu talkin' about, Will?"". In 2004, Gary Coleman appeared on the second season of ""The Surreal Life"" and was pressured to quote his famous catchphrase by Vanilla Ice. He also guest-starred as himself on ""The Wayans Bros."", ""The Ben Stiller Show"", ""Drake & Josh"", ""The Jamie Foxx Show"", ""The Parkers"", ""Robot Chicken"" and ""The Simpsons"". Following the cancellation of ""Diff'rent Strokes"", Gary Coleman, Todd Bridges and Dana Plato encountered difficulty in obtaining acting jobs. All three experienced various legal problems"
"greatest thing that had happened in my life,' he once said of his first Letterman appearance."" On ""Late Night"", DeForest played the role of Larry ""Bud"" Melman. Melman had no fixed or defined role on the show; he was simply an older, short, portly man with thick black-framed glasses who was seen relatively frequently, especially in the early years. In the first few years of the show, the Melman character was somewhat of an entrepreneur, appearing in ads for ""Melman Bus Lines"" as well as for ""Mr. Larry's Toast On A Stick"" (""Bread's answer to the Popsicle!""). He was also"
"Klugman also appeared in that episode, which aired on September 27, 1963. In 1965 he played the son of the butter & egg man in an episode of ""The Andy Griffith Show"". He also appeared as Jody Webster in the 1961 episode ""Paperback Hero"" of the ABC western series, ""The Rebel"", starring Nick Adams. He claimed to have been considered for the role of Robin on ""Batman"" but was told that at 21 he was too old for the role. In an attempt to graduate to more mature and serious roles, as well as break onto the silver screen, Diamond"
"Colbert imitates Blackman, describing his ""hubris and overweening pride."" (A line that's actually a Blackman quote about Jerri Blank.) Hollimon objected to the imitation, insisting that he didn't sound like that, but Colbert assured him that he did. The same DVD also features a commentary track where it is revealed that Hollimon is a very skilled rollerskater, so Sedaris, Dinello, and Colbert incorporated this talent into the show. Greg Hollimon Greg Hollimon (born May 2, 1956) is an actor best known for his work on Comedy Central's ""Strangers with Candy"". Hollimon grew up in the Chicago housing projects of Cabrini–Green,"
"with the duo in numerous projects, most notably joining them in 2003 to play the key role of Sophie in the cult Channel 4 comedy ""Peep Show"". Other joint ventures have included radio's ""That Mitchell and Webb Sound"", and the television version ""That Mitchell and Webb Look"". She decided to leave the programme after her agent suggested that she was becoming too closely associated with their work and needed to widen her horizons: a decision that was made ""with tears"". She continued to appear on ""Peep Show"", though in a reduced capacity, until it ended in 2015. Colman had a"
"Kiss 'Teddy' Dir Steven Pimlott [Almeida]; Lulu 'Rodrigo' Dir. Jonathan Kent [Almeida]; La Musica 'Him' Dir. Joseph Blatchley [Hampstead]; Making It Better 'The Husband' Dir. Michael Rudman [Hampstead/Criterion West End]; A Madhouse in Goa 'Niko/Oliver' Dir. Robert Alan Ackerman [Hammersmith/Apollo West End]; Greenland 'Brian' Dir. Simon Curtis [Royal Court]; Insignificance 'The Ball Player' Dir. Max Stafford-Clark [Royal Court]; Seduced 'Raul' Dir. Les Waters [Royal Court]; Filomena 'The Plumber' Dir. Franco Zefirelli [Lyric West End]; Comedians 'George McBrian' Dir. Mike Nicholls [Music Box/Broadway]. In 2013, Lamb began presenting a regular Sunday morning show on LBC. He is an occasional reporter for"
"Kilroy-Silk, Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, Angus Deayton, Terry Wogan and the fictional characters Ross Geller (from ""Friends"") and Dot Cotton (from ""EastEnders""). McGowan and Ronni Ancona are probably best known for their portrayal of Posh and Becks with McGowan exaggerating David Beckham's perceived lack of intelligence and Ancona exaggerating the role of ""Posh Spice"" (Victoria Beckham) with pouting lips. As the Beckhams' style of dress regularly changed – in particular David's changing haircuts – McGowan adapted his costumes and style accordingly. In later years he developed his portrayal of Beckham into a brainiac infuriated by Posh's lack of intelligence. He made a"
"episodes of ""Family Matters"", ""Hangin' with Mr. Cooper"", ""Step By Step"" and ""The Trouble with Larry"". He appeared as a spokesperson for Peter Pan peanut butter in a series of commercials in the late 1980s and 1990s. He also appeared in a Christmas episode of ""Ally McBeal"" as a man fired for seeing a unicorn. On a 2003 episode of """", he guested as an insurance investigator who displays strong Asperger's Syndrome traits. He gets a degree of empathy from Det. Robert Goren and a number of behind-his-back snickers from Goren's partner Alexandra Eames. His character made a return cameo"
"claims that it had been the original plan for Andy to marry Angie Watts (Anita Dobson), whom he had a brief affair with on-screen. He also claimed that Andy would have left the nursing profession to run The Dagmar winebar, which was instead given to a different character, James Willmott-Brown (William Boyde). Andy O'Brien (EastEnders) Andy O'Brien is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera ""EastEnders"", played by Ross Davidson. One of the original characters created for the series, Andy made his first appearance one month after the show first broadcast, in the 10th episode on 21 March 1985."
"studio for WNBC-TV, and interrupting Al Roker's weather segments during ""Live at Five""; and staging ""elevator races"", complete with commentary by NBC Sports' Bob Costas. In one infamous appearance, in 1982, Andy Kaufman (who was already wearing a neck brace) appeared with professional wrestler Jerry Lawler, who slapped and knocked the comedian to the ground (though Lawler and Kaufman's friend Bob Zmuda later revealed that the event was staged). In 1992, Johnny Carson retired, and many fans believed that Letterman would become host of ""The Tonight Show"". When NBC instead gave the job to Jay Leno, Letterman departed NBC to"
"19, 2007. Per his request, no funeral services were held; he was cremated and his remains were interred at Pinelawn Cemetery, Farmingdale, New York. By all press accounts, he left no surviving relatives. Calvert DeForest Calvert Grant DeForest (July 23, 1921 – March 19, 2007), also known by his character Larry ""Bud"" Melman, was an American actor and comedian, best known for his appearances on ""Late Night with David Letterman"" and the ""Late Show with David Letterman"". Little has been published about his early life. He was born to Calvert Martin DeForest, M.D., a physician who died in 1949, and"
"and gambling spirals out of control and he now owes a huge amount of money to Vince's boss, Dave, owner of The Grind and an East End loan shark. Vince's life takes a dramatic turn for the worse. ""The Grind"" features a cast including Jamie Foreman (Layer Cake, Nil By Mouth, Oliver Twist, Doctor Who, Eastenders), Danny John-Jules (Death in Paradise, Red Dwarf, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels), Zoe Tapper (Survivors, Desperate Romantics) and Kellie Shirley (Eastenders, The Office). Also appearing in cameo roles are Dynamo (the street magician whose latest series ‘Dynamo: Magician Impossible’ on Watch has been"
"a lookalike and the band’s tour of Japan. In 2007, Harmer appeared on the BBC television program ""Dragons Den"", pitching a business proposal for a celebrity lookalike business. Also in 2007, Harmer appeared on the Sky One programme ""The Beckhams Go to Hollywood"" where he posed as David Beckham to test the public's reaction ahead of the Beckham family's move from Madrid to Los Angeles. In 2010, Harmer appeared on the fourth series of ""Britain's Got Talent"" as part of an act known as The Chippendoubles. Andy Harmer Andy Harmer (born c. 1979) is a British actor and performer from"
"BBC television series ""The Office"". It was followed by ""Extras"" in 2005. He co-wrote and co-directed both series with Stephen Merchant. In addition to writing and directing the shows, he played the lead roles of David Brent in ""The Office"" and Andy Millman in ""Extras"". He reprised his role as Brent in the comedy film """". Gervais began his stand-up career in the late 1990s. He has performed five multi-national stand-up comedy tours, and wrote the ""Flanimals"" book series. Gervais, Merchant and Karl Pilkington created the podcast, ""The Ricky Gervais Show"", which has spawned various spin-offs starring Pilkington and produced"
"the front saying 'This is fiction.' I mean, walking on water? It takes... an act of faith. And I have faith in this movie – not that it's true, not that it's factual, but that it's a jolly good story."" He continued, ""And I think audiences are clever enough and bright enough to separate out fact and fiction, and discuss the thing when they've seen it"". McKellen appeared in the 2006 BBC series of Ricky Gervais' comedy series ""Extras"", where he played himself directing Gervais' character Andy Millman in a play about gay lovers. McKellen received a 2007 Primetime Emmy"
"Man"". Freeman offered Richard Boone the part of McGarrett, but Boone turned it down; Gregory Peck and Robert Brown were also considered. Ultimately, Jack Lord – then living in Beverly Hills – was asked at the last moment. Lord read for the part on a Wednesday, was cast, and flew to Hawaii two days later. On the following Monday, Lord was in front of the cameras. Freeman and Lord had worked together previously on an unsold TV pilot called ""Grand Hotel"". Tim O'Kelly originated the role of Danny Williams in the pilot episode, ""Cocoon."" Test audiences apparently weren't positive on"
"written by Gorman and Wallace. Once the TV show existed Gorman stopped touring the show in the UK, instead taking it to several overseas festivals and later running the show for three months off-Broadway - a run which saw him appearing as a guest on the ""Late Show with David Letterman"". Two Australian soap operas have named fictional characters Dave Gorman as an in-joke and the comedian has been bombarded with so many e-mails about it that he has had to publicly appeal to people to stop sending him details of other Dave Gormans. The show was released on DVD"
"was meant to be the comic antithesis of the typical lounge singer: a bland, genial entertainer designed to add a touch of class to a hotel and make guests feel welcome. For a brief time, it was unclear to some that Clifton was not a real person. News programs interviewed Clifton as Kaufman's opening act, but the interviews invariably would turn ugly whenever Kaufman's name came up. Clifton claimed Kaufman was using his name ""to go places."" Actually, in many cases, Andy Kaufman played Clifton. Promoters who thought they had caught on to the joke would hire Clifton because he"